News Focus

48 Eurofruit MagazinE - JanuarY 2011 | no436

For many people around the world, social media is a normal part of daily life. There are 500m Facebook users worldwide, 75m Twitter users and YouTube is the second-largest search engine next to Google; the number of people to potentially target and directly engage with is enormous, and the demographic is constantly growing. No longer exclusively used by the under 30s, a total of 18m people over the age of 45 are currently active on Facebook. The key is not just to engage with these potential customers, but to also hold their attention, which is no mean feat.

fresh produce companies using social media largely focus their campaigns around facebook, twitter and Youtube, with most websites incorporating a blogging system. the most innovative of these businesses are now seeing the potential in mobile marketing via phone apps for iPhone, android and Blackberry and Qr (Quick response) codes – two-dimensional barcodes that hold information (either a text, website urL or any other data such as product information or coupons), which can then be decoded by Qr scanners, mobile phone cameras and smartphones.

this month, Stemilt growers, a family-owned tree fruit supplier and marketing company based in Washington, uS, plans to put out 3,000 Piñata apple pop-up displays with Qr codes on them in retail stores across the uS. “the scanned Piñata codes

will direct the consumer to a mobile site with information about the grower and the product itself,” says roger Pepperl, Stemilt growers’ managing director. “People want to know where their food comes from,” he adds. “as a producer we owe it to people to inform them.”

California-based HarvestMark, a traceability system created for the fresh produce industry, recently launched a free iPhone app enabling consumers to trace their food back to the field. the app takes the consumer to a mobile site offering instant access to harvest, distribution, quality and food safety information about a scanned product. they are able to make an informed decision about their purchase and the producer can collect direct feedback. according to Elliott grant, chief marketing officer and founder of HarvestMark: “this level and quality of information cannot be found anywhere else.”

the thought of offering consumers such transparency might make some growers sceptical. “Some may have concerns about disclosing harvest dates, as sometimes products such as bananas can be stored for awhile in cold stores,” says Mr grant. “Pesticide usage, which consumers may not be aware of, is also a concern.” Mr grant is adamant however, that the technology is beneficial to the supply chain as a whole, offering insights that companies have never had before.

“Every time a consumer or buyer logs into the website, the iP address or phone location is revealed. this means the producer knows where the product is at any given time. this is vital for recalls of any products,” says Mr grant. “instant feedback is useful for testing new varieties, packaging, taste and how the consumer relates to the product overall. focus groups are a thing of the past and often too vague. Social media users tend to be more honest, as the web offers a degree of anonymity.”

“i love being able to trace my foods,” says a Jackson-Hall, who purchased the HarvestMark app through the itunes store. there have been 10,000 downloads of the app since its unpublicised launch in

social media

The fresh, social networkThe use of social media by the fresh produce industry has blossomed over the past year. Now, location-based services and QR codes could be about to change things even further

rachel saTo-banks rachel@fruitnet.com

The Dole Salad Guide’s spokesperson has his very own first-person social media platform

QR codes can hold up to 4,000 characters of data

3,000 Piñata pop-up displays will have QR codes

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News Focus

49Eurofruit MagazinE - JanuarY 2011 | no436

January 2010. the HarvestMark Qr codes appeared on 2m fresh produce items in the uS within two years.

Marketing movementMobile marketing and video marketing have also taken off in the last few years. Youtube has enjoyed enormous growth and, although facebook and twitter are the preferred channels for fresh produce

companies at this moment, many are creatively using Youtube to capture people’s attention.

the California avocado Commission (CaC), based in irvine, California, uses all three. Subscribers to its Youtube channel are drawn in by a mix of avocado-centric recipes demonstrated by chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan feniger (the ‘two Hot tamales’) and interviews with growers about how the avocados are lovingly handled through the generations. “the videos give fans something to be passionate about,” says Jan DeLyser, CaC’s vice president of marketing. Stemilt growers’ roger Pepperl agrees in this personal

approach: “Being authentic is really important in social media, as we’re family-owned we come off as original.”

fresh produce companies have a long way to go to utilise video in the same way as facebook and twitter, however. “facebook offers the most access to our

customers,” says Chris Mayhew, marketing director for Dole fresh Vegetables. “the three Dole facebook pages (Bananas, Salad guide and nutrition), are followed by close to 700,000 consumers that are passionate about nutrition, healthy-eating and recipe sharing.” Mr Mayhew feels twitter is even more instant and ideal for in-store offers, last-minute deals and events. “We focus this towards trade and media, including foodie and health bloggers,” he explains. “one example is our recent Blogger Summit. We created an event-specific hashtag (#dolesummit) that allowed us to link to everyone talking about the event – not just attendees, but the entire food and wellness blogger community.”

The right responseBut what is the point of social media if you can’t measure its rate of return (roi), you may ask. Social media is so fluid that direct metrics in the traditional sense can be difficult to obtain. “the cost-effectiveness is in the network of customers a brand can build,” says Dr tracy irani, development director of the university of florida’s PiE Centre. “the number of visitors to a page, the size of the network (fans, followers, members) and quantity of commentary, are the new ways of measuring roi.”

Dole fresh fruit’s communications

manager Bil goldfield agrees: “our true metrics are viral engagement. While we may not be able measure it precisely, we can assume there to be a very positive link between sales and conversations with an engaged community.” an easier way to monitor roi is through coupon redemption, he reveals: “We have used the web and social media as a coupon distribution mechanism, often adding a contest to make it more compelling.”

Location-based services such as foursquare and facebook Places now offer loyalty discounts and deals. Starbucks

recently offered a uS$1 discount for all ‘mayors’ of their locations in the uS. the potential for marketers when it comes to social media gaming, where you are rewarded virtually for frequently visiting places and ‘logging in’ via gPS, is to make consuming a fun, even competitive pastime. foursquare launched in March 2009 and now has 3m users.

Whether this will have any impact on the fresh produce industry remains to be seen, however. “We did think of getting into foursquare but i think it’s also important to not do too much,” says roger Pepperl. Dr irani agrees a choice must be made about

which channels work best with your brand: “our research shows that adults don’t like to be overloaded with information.”

the risks involved in entering uncharted social media territory may cause some to shy away; but the risk in not effectively integrating such systems into marketing strategies, the way most successful brands have done, could be far greater, believes Del Monte’s marketing vice-president Dennis Christou: “Consumers are online researching and interacting with brands and, if your company is not there, they are liable to forget about you.” n

There have been 10,000 downloads of the HarvestMark iPhone app since its launch in January 2010

51,500 people ‘like’ the CAC’s Facebook page

Del Monte utilises Facebook for targeted campaigns

Twitter offers brands instant consumer feedback

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